Copepod species and their trace metal contents in coastal northern Taiwan

Abstract

Two cruises were carried out to collect copepod samples from the coastal waters of Northern Taiwan, the Taiwan Strait and the southern East China Sea extending to the Okinawa Trough where the Kuroshio waters intrude. The copepod samples were analyzed for community structure and the dominant copepod species were further analyzed for their trace metal concentration. In total, 106 species of copepods, belonging to 22 families and 43 genera, were recorded. The dominant copepod species were Acartia pacifica, Canthocalanus pauper, Cosmocalanus darwini, Undinula vulgaris, Temora discaudata, Temora turbinata, and Oncaea venusta and exhibited a spatial variation among the study areas. The metal concentration ranges for the analyzed copepods were as follows: Cd, 0.39–142 μg/g; Co, 0.03–91.9 μg/g; Cr, 2.26–284 μg/g; Cu, 3.03–196 μg/g; Fe, 19.96–3118 μg/g; Mn, 3.98–994 μg/g; Ni, 1.69–955 μg/g; Pb, 0.04–97.5 μg/g; and Zn, 1.52–1140 μg/g. The same metal content of copepods showed considerable variation between the intra and inter species. The inter species trace metal content sequence was: O. venusta > A. pacifica > C. darwini > T. turbinata > T. discaudata > C. pauper > U. vulgaris. In addition, the copepod metal quota also exhibited spatial variation: coastal water > the southern East China Sea > the Kuroshio Water.